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So a while back, I wrote a blog about my favorite police officers in video games.  It was a fairly popular topic, so I decided to revisit it, only change it to be my favorite firefighters in video games.  It won’t be as long of a list, because I couldn’t think of too many firefighter game characters.  I’m a little surprised there aren’t more firefighting games out there.  Real life firefighters are true heroes, risking their lives and being brave to save others in danger.  So I’m surprised that more video games haven’t capitalized on that.  Also, according to where I work now, this month is fire safety month so it’s topical.  But anyway, here are my favorites.

In my last blog where I talked about police officer video game characters, I also listed some ways to help out real life police.  My family and I have helped out the fire department in the past, too.  Our fire department in our town is very community oriented, and host a lot of donations and charities.  So we often take things to the fire department to donate when they need it.  Our fire department also does a lot of other cool things for the city.  At Christmas they decorate the fire house with lights that are timed with music (the fire house is shaped like a barn, by the way).  You can even park across the street to see the light show.  I just thought that was a cool thing they did.  I imagine there’s lot of other cool things they do that I don’t even know about.  If you know any ideas on how to help out the fire department in your town, please let us know in the comments section!  OK, now onto the list of my favorite video game firefighters.

Honorable Mention: Burning Rangers

I imagine a lot of people would have this higher on their list, since it’s a whole game about firefighters in the future.  But I really don’t know much about this game and have never played it.  I think it was on the Saturn, a console I never had, and I’m not even sure it came out to the US or not.  The only other thing I know about it is that one of the race tracks in Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed is based on Burning Rangers.

5. Patricia Wagon (Mighty Switch Force 2)

She was also on my list of favorite police officers, but in the sequel she is a firefighter rescuing the same criminals she caught in the first game.  Now that she’s a firefighter, the pun in her name doesn’t make as much sense, but oh well.  I’ve never actually played Mighty Switch Force 2, but I hear it’s not that much different from the first game, even though she is a firefighter now.  But since I’m a big fan of WayForward, I should probably try and play the sequel at some point.

4. Pete and Danny (The Firemen 2)

This was a top-down viewed two-player action game on the PlayStation, but it never came to the US.  However, you could still download it on the PS3 and I reviewed it.  It was a little hard to play at times because of the language barrier, but it was still kind of fun, and I bet I would’ve played it a lot with my brothers if they were little at the time.  It was actually a sequel to a SNES game that did come to the US, but I never played it and I bet it’s very rare.  In the game you run around hosing down fires and saving people, and it has that 16-bit charm and style I like.

3. Fire Truck Kirby (Kirby’s Epic Yarn)

In Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Kirby could turn into all sorts of different things, like a car, UFO, giant tank, etc.  One of my favorite transformations was when he’d turn into a fire truck.  You could run around and jump, and tilt the Wii remote to spray a stream of water at different angles.  It worked very well and was fun and I bet they could’ve made a whole game out of that vehicle gameplay mechanic.

2. Mickey Mouse (Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse)

Believe it or not, I actually have better memories playing Capcom games on the NES and SNES, as opposed to Nintendo titles.  But that’s mainly because Capcom had Mega Man and awesome Disney games back then.  One of them was Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse on the SNES.  Even though it was a ‘kiddy’ game and rather easy, it was also very fun and looked and sounded great.  Mickey Mouse could wear special outfits that gave him certain abilities.  Like a magician’s suit would let him fire magic blasts, and a climbing suit let him swing like Bionic Commando.  But my favorite was the fireman outfit, which let you spray out water to defeat enemies and put out fires and even create ice blocks.  It was pretty creative how they handled it, I thought.  Nintendo Power even featured Fireman Mickey on its front cover one time!  Anyway, Magical Quest is a pretty fun little game, and I recommend trying it out if you get a chance.  The first two are on the SNES in the US, and all three Magical Quest games are available on the GBA.

1. You (Brave Firefighters)

Yeah I don’t know who the characters are in this game, so I’m assuming they’re whoever is playing.  So YOU’RE a Brave Firefighter!  Anyway, this was an arcade game by SEGA made in the late 90s/early 2000s, I think.  It’s pretty much like House of the Dead (cheesy voice acting included), except instead of shooting zombies with guns, you’re putting out flames with hose controllers.  This game did a great job of giving you an experience you couldn’t normally have on a home console, which is where I think arcade games can still shine today.  The hose controllers were connected to a big fire hydrant on the bottom of the cabinet, and the hoses themselves were rather solid and heavy, like you were holding a real fire hose.  There was even a shoulder strap for you to use while carrying it.  Anyway, I had a lot of fun playing this game with friends and family back in the day.  We would pretend to spray each other with our fire hoses (Who wants to drink from the fire hose?), and we’d say, “You’re a Brave Firefighter! No, YOU’RE a Brave Firefighter!”  I guess you’d have to be there.  Anyway, I had always hoped they’d make a home version of this, as the arcade game came out about the time of the Dreamcast’s heyday.  I know it seems farfetched now, but back that it felt entirely plausible, as SEGA released a lot of their other stranger games and arcade titles on the Dreamcast, like Seaman, SEGA Bass Fishing (with fishing controller), and Samba de Amigo (with maracas).  I saw this game a lot in arcades for a while, but not as much anymore.

Conclusions

And that’s all I can think of!  The only other firefighting game that came to mind for me was Planes: Fire & Rescue, which I reviewed and is also based on the movie (neither of which are very good). Anyway, in the comments section, let me know what you think of my list, and tell me your favorite firefighters in video games.  Also, share with us any ideas on how to help brave firefighters in real life!  Later!  --Cary